Episodes 91-100 Gallery

Bonus Episode 1: The Comparative Illusion

How do some sentences trick us into thinking they're good, when really they're not? And what can that tell us about how we process language? In this episode, we take a look at the comparative illusion, a tricky kind of sentence that seems meaningful, but falls apart when we consider it further. And then we look at what exactly it is about them that confuses our minds.

Topic 93: Pronouns

How do we know who "he" is? And how does "he" differ from "himself" when we interpret it? In this episode, we talk about the syntax and semantics of pronouns: how we can place them in sentences, how they link up to variables, and the role of context in how we interpret them.

Topic 92: Event Semantics

How do events factor into our mental linguistics? How can we adjust our logic to capture different sentence permutations? In this episode, we take a look at event semantics: what problems they're meant to solve, how they help us limit time and place in our sentences, and what evidence we have that events are real.

Topic 91: Propaganda and Censorship

How do we try influencing what other people think about the world? What techniques get used for bending the truth? In this episode, we take a look at some of the linguistics around propaganda and censorship: what people can try beyond just outright lying, how using conversational rules can get you to think things that aren't said, and how we can use bias to influence people's views.